This Week@WesternU, March 17-21, 2014

WesternU to hold Trends in Autism Conference April 12, 2014

The 13th annual Trends in Autism Conference will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 12, 2014 at Western University of Health Sciences, 309 E. Second St., Pomona, Calif.

The keynote speakers will be Chantal Sicile-Kira and Jeremy Sicile-Kira. Chantal Sicile-Kira is a leading author on autism and is the founder of www.autismcollege.com. She will sign books after the talk.

This event is open to health professionals, therapists, teachers, parents and adults with autism. Click here to view a flier. For more information, email face@westernu.edu. Visit WesternU’s Faculty for Autism Collaboration & Education (FACE) at http://www.westernu.edu/face/.

From the College of Dental Medicine:

WesternU College of Dental Medicine to offer virtual learning content and integration services

The College of Dental Medicine at Western University of Health Sciences, a leading innovator in dental education, is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of VirtualU@WesternU in April 2014.

VirtualU@WesternU represents a distinctive entry into the digital learning arena that will assist dental schools and other health care educational programs as they navigate the multifaceted world of integrating online learning and digital course enhancements at their home institutions. Click here to read the full story.

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:

Dr. Ed Wagner and his collaborators had two manuscripts accepted for publication: Qiu,J., Zhang, C., Borgquist, A., Nestor, C.C., Smith, A.W., Bosch, M.A., Ku, S., Wagner, E.J., Rønnekleiv, O.K., Kelly, M.J.: Insulin excites anorexigenic proopiomelanocortin neurons via activation of canonical transient receptor potential channels. Cell Metabolism. Some of the data from this article will be displayed on the front cover of the April issue.

Borgquist, A., Rivas, V.M., Kachani, M., Sinchak, K., Wagner, E.J.: Gonadal steroids differentially modulate the actions of orphanin FQ/nociceptin at a physiologically relevant circuit controlling female sexual receptivity. The Journal of Neuroendocrinology.

Vishwanath Venketaraman, PhD, Associate Professor, Microbiology/Immunology, will serve as a distinguished speaker at the 14th International Conference on Oxidative Stress Reduction, Redox Homeostasis & Antioxidants. The conference will be held in Paris, France June 12-13, 2014. More information on this conference can be found at www.isanh.fr.

Brion Benninger, MD, MSc, Professor & Executive Director, Medical Anatomy Center (MAC), hosted a successful Biological Surgical Mesh Course Repairing Hernias on Obese Subjects March 15, 2014 in the McDaniel Surgical, Radiological and Medical Anatomy Research lab at COMP-Northwest. This course was designed for residents-in-training and those physicians wanting to further develop their knowledge and skills regarding hiatus hernia and other regions using Biological Mesh in both lapascopic and open procedures. Drs. Nagamoto and Yarbrough were impressive and well received expert surgical technique speakers from Samaritan Health Services, Corvallis, Ore. Special thanks to COOK Medical, Olympus and Covidien who provided equipment support and expertise. Kim Ketcham, CME coordinator and Executive Assistant for the MAC, organized a seamless event between didactic and surgical skills.

From the College of Allied Health Professions:

Department of Physical Therapy Education News

Adjunct Faculty member Rose Hamm, PT, DPT, CWS, FCCWS, along with alumni Holly Silvers, PT, PhD, MPT ’99, and Lynn Tierney, PT, DPT ‘06, GCS, gave presentations at the Combined Sections Meeting (CSM) of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) held last month in Las Vegas. As part of Clinical Electrophysiology and Wound Management Section, Dr. Hamm was an invited speaker for a two-hour presentation “The Use of Therapeutic Technologies in the Treatment of Pressure Ulcers.” Dr. Silvers was an invited speaker in the Section on Sports Physical Therapy for two two-hour presentations, “Rehabilitation Considerations for the Female Athlete” and “ACL Injury Prevention: Past, Present, and Future.” Dr. Tierney, as part of the Section on Geriatrics, had a poster presentation “The Relationship Between Plantarflexion Strength, Balance and Gait Characteristics in Older Adults.” The CSM focuses on programming designed by all 18 of APTA’s specialty sections and brought together more than 10,000 physical therapy professionals from around the nation for several days of educational programming, networking opportunities, and an exhibit hall in which the WesternU DPT program had a booth.

From the College of Pharmacy:

Kudos on accomplishments

Congratulations to the following Pharmaceutical Science faculty, post-docs, technicians and MSPS students on their recent accomplishments:

Liu M, Ravula R, Wang Z, Zuo Z, Chow M, Thakkar A, Prabhu S, Andresen B, Huang Y. Traditional Chinese medicinal formula Si-Wu-Tang prevents oxidative damage by activating Nrf2-mediated detoxifying/antioxidant genes. Cell & Bioscience. 2014;4(1):8. PubMed PMID: doi:10.1186/2045-3701-4-8. Link to Article

Dr. Arezoo Campbell, Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, was invited as a speaker and participant at the U.S.-Iran Symposium on Air Pollution in Megacities. The Symposium was sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, University of Southern California, and the National Academy of Sciences. Click here for more information: http://www.aaas.org/report/Iran-airpollution

Congratulations to the multi-college collaboration by Pharmaceutical Science faculty, College of Veterinary Medicine faculty, COMP Clinical Science faculty, research assistant, PharmD, MSBS and MSPS students on their recent publication: Hao J, Lee R, Chang A, Fan J, Labib C, Parsa C, Orlando R, Andresen B, Huang Y. DMH1, a small molecule inhibitor of BMP type I receptors, suppresses growth and invasion of lung cancer. PLoS ONE 9(3): e90748, 2014. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0090748 Link to Article

From the College of Veterinary Medicine:

John Tegzes, VMD, Professor of Toxicology for the College of Veterinary Medicine, provided video commentary for “JustFoodForDogs” YouTube website on the FDA’s recent "Safe Handling of Pet Food in the Home" video. The video is featured in the “Video Spotlight” section of the WesternU home page.

From the Patient Care Center:

PCC News

Support the Eye Care Center as we celebrate Save Your Vision Month throughout March. “Like” the Patient Care Center on Facebook at www.facebook.com/westernupcc to learn some interesting eye facts, enter for a chance to win a prize, and participate in a Q&A session with Dr. Bennett McAllister, College of Optometry Chief of Primary Care Services, at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 27.

A commercial for the Patient Care Center is airing on KNBC Ch. 4 through May 11.

Click here to view the commercial.

From University Advancement:

Alumni news

On March 11, the WesternU Alumni Association welcomed the PharmD Class of 2014 back to campus with a free lunch. About 130 students enjoyed free pizza and cookies as they reconnected with their classmates.

The WesternU Alumni Association will be sponsoring Match Day celebrations Friday, March 21 for the DO Class of 2014 on both the Pomona and Lebanon campuses.

On Saturday, March 22, the WesternU Alumni Association will hold a reception/dinner at the California Association for Nurse Practitioners’ Annual Educational Conference in Newport Beach. More than three dozen CGN alumni, students and faculty are expected to attend.

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Western University of Health Sciences, 309 E. Second St., Pomona, Calif. 91766

909-623-6116